


Bhallaladeva: The Story Untold

by Donteatmycurry



Category: Baahubali (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-17 05:34:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 13,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11844987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Donteatmycurry/pseuds/Donteatmycurry
Summary: This is the love story of our very own Prince Bhallaladeva of Mahishmati.





	1. Preface

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: This is not very well written as I rushed to get my ideas out. It's not edited so there are many mistakes throughout, but I kindly request you to give it a chance, especially all of you Bhalla fans out there. It definitely gets better in terms of grammar as it goes on but it is a bit of a rough start. There are some holes in the story where it doesn't really make much sense but I am working on fixing them, so please bear with me. Also, I am not a historian so not everything in this is aligned with true events, but I am trying my hardest not to make it absolutely outrageous.

This story continues from Bahubali 2: The Conclusion from the scene where Bhalla is informed of the princess who has chosen his brother’s heart. Instead of Bhalla asking for Devasena’s hand in marriage, he informs Shivgami of the bride that Amarendra Bahubali has chosen. Everything else follows almost the same until Bahubali brings Devasena into the royal courtroom. Shivgami still commands for Devasena to be chained because of a scathing reply she made and Amarendra Bahubali still pulls out his sword to protect her. Luckily, Bhalla is able to convince his mother to calm down before she does something she’ll regret.

Mahishmati has the Royal Wedding and Devasena have Mahendra Bahubali soon thereafter. Shivgami knows that she wants to make Amarendra the king of Mahishmati, but she waits to coronate him until after his brother has chosen his wife. A few years pass and Devasena has a second child, a beautiful baby girl who goes by the name of Rudhramadevi. Bhalla has yet to marry, or even find a woman suitable to his expectations. 

Bijjaladeva isn’t alive in this story. He died a tragic death on the battlefield when Bhalla was merely a young boy, so Bhalla grows up without the toxic influence of his father.


	2. A Foreign Princess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A foreign princess arrives in the great Kingdom of Mahishmati.

The Palace of Mahishmati was bustling in preparation for the arrival of a foreign princess and her twin brother. This pair of royal twins were more special than any other, as they are close childhood friends of Devasena. She was especially excited to see her friend again after many years apart. Her best friend, Princess Nisha of the Satavahana Empire, is the youngest of three. Her eldest brother is the Crown Prince and was unable to come to Mahishmati due to his royal obligations. The middle child is her twin brother, Prince Arjun, who was touring the neighboring kingdoms and establishing foreign relationships with them that would be beneficial to his kingdom, especially in terms of trade and protection.

Devasena was making sure that everything was perfect for her friends when they arrived. Princess Nisha wasn't able to make it to the Royal Wedding or either of Devasena's baby showers, so she's especially excited at the chance to spend time with her friend.

One of the numerous servants of the palace informs Devasena that the foreign princess and her brother have arrived. She rushes down to the door to greet them.

"Devasena!" Nisha immediately engulfs her friend in a hug. Devasena laughs and returns the hug. "I have missed you so much!"

"Nisha, let the poor thing go before you suffocate her to death," Prince Arjun says to his sister before he turns towards Devasena and bows. "How are you Devasena?"

"Great now that my best friend is here," Devasena returns the bow. "Come, you two, I shall take you to meet the queen."

Devasena leads the twins through the palace to the royal courtyard where Shivgami and Amarendra are having lunch.

"Your Highness, this is Prince Arjun and Princess Nisha of the Satavahana Empire," Devasena introduces and the twins bow respectufuly. "They are very close friends of mine and will be staying with us for a little bit."

"Welcome Prince and Princess. I hope that you two will enjoy your time here in Mahishmati. Would you two like to join us for lunch or would you like to be escorted to your chambers first?" Shivgami asks.

"Thank you for the offer, Your Majesty, but I would like to respectfully decline and freshen up a bit in my chambers. Would you mind?" Nisha asks politely.

"Unlike my sister, I would love to join you and Bahubali for lunch," Arjun replies.

"Of course. Prince Arjun, have a seat, and Princess Nisha, I will have someone escort you to your chambers," Shivgami signals for a maid.

"Thank you, Your Highness, but you don't need to go through the trouble. Devasena will escort me," Nisha bows and Shivgami nods to dismiss them. The pair of friends excitedly make their way through the palace.

 

Amarendra turns towards Prince Arjun. "Prince Arjun, I know you are only planning on staying for a few days, but would you like to stay for longer?"

"As much as I would love to, I can't," Prince Arjun declines. "I have royal duties an obligations in my kingdom, especially now that my brother is nearing his coronation."

"What about your sister? I'm sure she'll be able to stay a little longer and Devasena would surely love the company of her best friend, especially since they haven't seen each other in so long." Bahubali offers.

The prince slowly nods. "I might be able to handle her royal duties so that she can stay for longer. I think she might be able to, as long as you don't mind having her. The only issue is that Nisha needs to be engaged soon, before the coronation of our brother."

"Do not worry about that, Prince Arjun. I have the perfect man in mind," Shivgami assures. Amarendra looks to his mother to see a mischievous glint in her eye, one that him and his wife often have. He knows exactly who his mother is thinking of.

"If you do not mind me asking, who is it your majesty?" Arjun asks curiously.

"My eldest son, Prince Bhallalladeva of Mahishmati. He is also unmarried," Shivgami explains. "With your consent, we could set up an arrangement for the two?"

Arjun is a bit skeptical, never having met Bhalla before. "I'm not sure. I haven't met him before and I don't know if Nisha would like him. Could you call for him so that I may meet him before I leave?"

"Bhalla is outside of the palace at the moment so it'd be difficult for you two to meet," Bahubali clarifies. "However, I assure you that we will break the alliance if we feel the need."

"I'm still a bit unsure, especially because I would like my sister to choose her own husband and marry for love rather than an alliance or treaty. She should have a choice in who she spends the rest of her life with. But since you're agreeing to break the engagement if a need arises and with the forthcoming coronation of our eldest brother, I suppose so," Arjun reluctantly agrees. "I shall deliver the message back home when I return that our Princess Nisha is potentially betrothed to Prince Bhallaladeva of Mahishmati."

 

 On the other side of the palace, Devasena is leading Nisha to her room.

"This is my room, this is your brother's room," Devasena points out while leading her down the hall. "And this is where you shall be staying."

"Thank you," Nisha says as the girls enter the room. She sees that her belongings have already been brought up to her room. "So what is the plan for today?"

"I have to finish up some royal duties-" Devasena starts but stops when she hears a knock on the door. "You may enter."

A maid enters the room and bows. "Sorry to disrupt you Princesses, but I am here to deliver a message from Queen Shivgami. Princess Nisha shall be staying for longer than originally planned, but Prince Arjun shall still be leaving tomorrow morning."

Nisha thanks the maid for delivering the message and Devasena gives her permission to leave. The maid bows again before leaving.

"I brought a gifts for the little prince and princess," Nisha remembers after freshening up and goes to pull out the gifts which consist of a wooden toy horse, a set of drums, a set of dolls and a toy chariot being driven by a man.

Devasena is touched by her friend's consideration. "You didn't have to go through all the trouble, Nisha."

"Nonsense," Nisha waves her hand dismissively. "I wanted to. Anything for my best friend's little angels. Speaking of which, when can I meet them?"

"They should be sleeping in the nursery with their nanny. Let's go see them," Devasena and Nisha head towards the nursery with the gifts.

 

Nisha and Devasena arrive at the nursery with the gifts, followed soon thereafter by Amarendra and Arjun. The twins get to spend some time with the royal family before dinner and the kids are elated with their gifts. They take to Princess Nisha quickly because of her compassionate nature. Devasena observes her friend play with her kids and cannot help but be excited for when Nisha has kids of her own because she will be a great mother.

The group head down to dinner together and enjoy a great feast prepared by the palace chefs. After dinner, Shivgami proceeds to a study to review some royal treaties, accompanied by Amarendra Bahubali. Prince Arjun joins them to discuss Nisha's engagement treaty and the joining of the Kingdom of Mahishmati with the Satavahana Empire, all of which Nisha is completely unaware of. Devasena, Nisha, Mahendra and Rudhramadevi head to Devasena's wardrobe to choose some clothes for the foreign princess to borrow for the duration of her stay since she will be staying longer than she intended.

After their evening activites, everyone retires to their chambers to rest for the night. Nisha plans to make herself useful while she stays at the Mahishmati palace by joining Devasena for royal duties starting tomorrow. She and her brother are exhausted from their journey, not to mention that Prince Arjun will be leaving tomorrow on his journey home. The excitement around the castle has finally settled, allowing everyone to fall asleep.


	3. The Departure of a Prince

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nisha and Arjun spend time playing games with Mahendra and his family before Prince Arjun's return to his kingdom.

Nisha wakes up to little hands hitting her face and baby noises coming from around her as well as laughter at her disheveled state.

Nisha lets out a groan and rolls over, trying to drown out the rest of the world. She feels a pressure on her chest and little arms trying to push her back over. She cracks open an eye to see Rudhramadevi making noises with her mouth, giggling to herself and Mahendra trying to wake her up.

Devasena pulls the cover off of her friend. "Come on Nisha, we have a lot to do today. Your brother is leaving soon."

Nisha sighs and sits up, rubbing her eyes. Rudhramadevi mimics her movements and her parents laugh. Mahendra starts jumping on the bed now that his task of waking up the princess is complete.

"Mahendra, stop jumping on the bed!" Devasena tries to scold her child with futile attempts due to her husband's encouraging of the childish antics. She sighs and hits him upside the head. "Do you want me to punish you too?"

Bahu just grins at his wife like the idiot he is and nods. Nisha lets out a small smile, shaking her head fondly at their playful banter. She wants something special like what Devasena has with Amarendra for herself.They may argue and fight, but they unconditionally love each other which is the most important thing to sustain a relationship and family.

"Come, Princess Nisha, we have to make preparations for your brother's departure soon," Bahu says while leading his family out of the room.

Nisha gets up and gets ready for the day. She heads down to breakfast to see what resembles a feast. She gapes in amazement and asks Bahu, "Why does your mother go to such great lengths to welcome us? I already feel welcomed by her simply gracing us with her presence."

Unknown to Nisha, Shivgami had entered and heard her question. Shivgami was pleasantly surprised at her humbleness and flattered, allowing for her face to show her emotions. She composed herself in the blink of an eye and made her presence known. "I am flattered, Princess Nisha."

"Oh, Your Highness," Nisha turns around and immediately bows. "I apologize for not noticing your arrival. And you didn't need to trouble yourself and prepare a feast, a simple meal would've sufficed. I am very thankful, Your Majesty."

"No need to apologize for something like that," Shivgami dismisses. "I am honestly flattered by your humbleness Nisha. But, do not worry, there was no hassle for this meal. I just wanted to make sure your brother had the chance to taste some of Mahishmati's delicacies before his departure today."

"Thank you, Your Highness," Nisha and Arjun say at the sametime using their twin telepathy. The knowingly look at each other and smile.

"Come," Shivgami leads. "Let us enjoy this delicious meal."

Everyone follows the order of the queen and enjoys the delectable specialties of Mahishmati.

 

After the feast of a breakfast, everyone is spending time with Arjun. He is due to leave in a few hours and Shivgami is having Kattappa prepare things for the Prince to take back to his home kingdom. The Prince is out in the royal gardens with everyone except Shivgami since she had royal duties to attend to. Arjun has Mahendra on his back, giving him a piggyback ride while he holds Rudhramadevi in his arms.

"I'm going to miss the little ones the most," Arjun says before blowing a raspberry on Rudhramadevi's cheeks causing her to erupt into a fit of giggles.

"What about me? Your darling little sister?" Nisha pouts, mock-hurt.

"Hmm, let me think about that," Arjun pretends to think about it while rubbing his chin with his hand and staring off into space. "No. I'll be glad to finally get rid of you."

Nisha sticks her tongue out at her brother, playfully offended by her brother's teasing. He just laughs at her.

"Prince Arjun, look! A monster!" Mahendra calls out while pointing at his father who is running up behind them, roaring like a tiger. "Nooooo!"

"I will protect you, King Mahendra!" Arjun says, portraying the role of a valuable knight to his king and running away from Bahu, being sure not to hurt the kids.

Bahu comes around and cuts off Arjun. "I've got you now!" He says while taking his daughter from Arjun's hands. "Now I'm going to eat the queen!" Bahu makes fake munching noises while gently nibbling on his daughter's arm, causing her to squeal and laugh.

"No, not the queen! That's my sister, you evil monster!" Mahendra cries out. "Prince Arjun, save her!"

"Of course, King Mahendra," Arjun assures him. He turns to Bahu. "How should we settle this?"

"Nothing can settle this," Bahu says defiantly.

"Alright then," Arjun says while taking Mahendra off his back. "I challenge you to a duel! The winner wins Queen Rudhramadevi!"

"That is a bold declaration. Are you sure you can win against me?" Bahu challenges while handing Rudhramadevi to Devasena.

"Yes, of course. Anything for the queen," Arjun says, still playing the part of the knight. "Are you scared of losing?"

"Never," Bahu says, completely serious about never being afraid to lose.

The group make their way to the royal training grounds located near the gardens. Amarendra and Arjun choose their swords for their battle. Nisha cuts in before the two begin their battle.

"Oh, most loyal knight Arjun," Nisha begins getting into character for Mahendra's game. "Please allow me the honor of defeating this horrendous beast and rescuing the queen for you. I would not like you to be tired on your royal duty of serving the king."

"I am afraid that choice is not a decision of mine. You must ask our king," Arjun says, turning to Mahendra.

"Oh, King Mahendra, please allow me to serve you and fight on behalf of Knight Arjun to retrieve our Queen Rudhramadevi from the clutches of the evil monster who has taken her hostage," Nisha says bowing to Mahendra. He agrees and calls Arjun back to watch the fight next to him.

Nisha approaches the training field and comes towards Bahu. "Please go easy on me, I'm not the best at sword fighting." Bahu laughs in agreement and they assume their positions to start fighting.

Bahu takes the first lunge, obviously not taking things very seriously and deliberately not using his full strength as per Nisha's request. She easily dodges the attack and trips him, aiming her sword at his neck before he can even recover. He rolls over and gets back up, blocking her sword as he does so. She quickly does a fancy spin that was clearly intended to look more stylish than it was practical, with intricate footwork that was similar to a dance. While Bahu was having fun in a fake sword duel, he could see Kattappa approaching and decided to swiftly end the fight. He let Nisha place a sword at his neck and pretend to slash it. He groaned in fake agony before falling on the floor in an attempt to appear dead.

Nisha takes Rudhramadevi from Devasena's hands and approaches Mahendra dramatically. "King Mahendra, the queen has been rescued and the evil monster has been defeated!"

Mahendra nods in approval, trying to look like a mature king, but his childish excitement shines through. "Good work, Princess Nisha. I shall now reward you with..." He trails of at the end, his eyes searching around for something to reward the princess with. His eyes land on a nearby flower bush. He goes to quickly pick one, sniffing it and bring it for Nisha. "With this flower." He holds the flower out to her but she lowers down to him instead of taking it so that he can place it in her hair.

"Thank you, King Mahendra," She says, rising. She can't resist placing a kiss on his cute, chubby cheek. "Mahendra, do you know what type of flower this is and what it stands for?"

"No. What is it? What does it mean?" Mahendra curiously asks her.

"This is a Dahlia flower. It represents dignity, elegance and commitment," Nisha explains patiently to the young boy. "It's my favorite flower. Isn't it beautiful?"

"Yes. It smells good too," Mahendra says, showing his adorable smile.

Kattappa decides that now would be a good time to interrupt the royals. "Your Majesties, if I may interrupt." Kattappa bows. "I come with a message from the queen that the preparations for Prince Arjun's departure are now complete."

"Thank you, Kattappa," Nisha says.

"If you would allow me to lead you," Kattappa gestures for them to follow.

"Of course," Nisha takes Kattappa's lead, the others not far behind them.

 

At the front door of the palace, a carriage awaits Prince Arjun as well as Shivgami. They bow to the queen.

"Prince Arjun, the preparations for your journey home are complete," Shivgami motions to the carriages, horses, and servants behind her. "I wish you a safe and easy return home."

"Thank you, Your Highness," Arjun bows. "I am very grateful that you've gone through so much trouble for me and my sister."

"No need to thank me, Prince Arjun, it was no trouble at all," Shivgami says dismissively. "I hope that you return to Mahishmati soon. We will always welcome you with open arms." Shivgami pulls him into a hug.

"Come back soon, friend. You are welcome anytime." Amarendra is next, followed by his son.

"Prince Arjun, why are you leaving? Do you not like it here?" Mahendra asks sadly. "Are we not friends anymore?"

Arjun picks him up. "Of course we are friends, King Mahendra. But, my mother and father and older brother miss me and need me back at their palace. I must go, but I am leaving Princess Nisha here to play with you in case you get lonely."

"Will you come back?" Mahendra looks up at him.

"All the time," Prince Arjun answers. "And, I'll bring back lots and lots of toys for you and your sister to play with next time."

"Promise?" Mahendra perks up at the mention of new toys.

"Promise," Arjun smiles at the little boy in his arms. He places a kiss on the boy's head and sets him down, moving towards the little princess in Devasena's hands.

"Who knows how big she'll be by the time I return," Arjun says kissing her cheeks.

"Not that much bigger than she is now because you'll be back very soon," Devasena says, hugging her friend.

He laughs at Devasena's comment. "It was wonderful seeing you again, Devasena, but I'm afraid I must leave now."

"Yes, your carriage awaits," Devasena motions for him to proceed.

Nisha engulfs her brother into a tight hug, tears threatening to leak from her eyes. "I'm going to miss you, brother."

Arjun reciprocates the hug, trying not to feel upset at him having to leave his sister here. "I'm going to miss you too, little sister. But, I'll be back soon enough and you'll have the little angels to play with. Don't have too much fun without me, and be safe. Remember to be the strong queen you are, Nisha."

Nisha just nods, incapable of saying words and releases her brother after he places a kiss to her forehead. Arjun turns and heads into his carriage. He waves a final goodbye as he leaves and everyone stands where they are until long after he is no longer visible, already missing the foreign prince.


	4. A Grand Misunderstanding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nisha and Bhalla mistake each other for intruders and chaos ensuses.

 

After a long day, Nisha sneaks off by herself and goes to the river to bathe. Bhalla isn’t feeling well and goes to the river to bathe as well after his long journey home. He’s had a rough journey and ran into some bandits that gave him a few nasty gashes. Let’s say they were bathing at the waterfall right outside of the palace during the nighttime so that it makes sense why Nisha and Bhalla were so preoccupied with their thoughts that they didn’t hear each other while bathing. Nisha is quietly humming to herself (I imagine her humming a soft version of “Panchhi Boley”) and Bhalla isn’t feeling too well so he’s not fully aware of his surroundings. They both finish bathing and come out of the water and are going to get dressed when they see each other.

They immediately pull out their swords and are at each other’s throats in the blink of an eye, thinking that the other is an intruder in the palace. (I feel like Bhalla would’ve pushed Nisha against a wall to trap her.) When they try to explain who they are, they don’t believe each other and a sword fight ensues. From the moment that they saw each other, Bhalla and Nisha hated each other. Nisha could feel the overconfidence and arrogance radiating off of him and Bhalla didn’t like the fact that this girl wouldn’t believe that he was the other Prince of Mahishmati. Nisha, while she is a healer and a princess, knows how to fight and defend herself with a sword, but she’s not as strong or good at it as Bhalla but she puts up a good fight. She obviously gets hurt and has a couple of nasty gashes on her upper left arm and her right calf and cuts on her jaw and bruises littering the rest of her body with a particularly nasty one on her temple. Bhalla, on the other hand, has a deep cut on his upper arm, a stab wound/gash in the side of his abdomen and other bruises and minor cuts on the rest of his body. Even though Bhalla is stronger than Nisha, he’s slightly sick and weaker than he normally is in addition to the fact that he’s wet from his bath and has some injuries puts him at a slight disadvantage. With one hard shove from Nisha, Bhalla slips and sprains his ankle as well as gaining a few new injuries. Using her garments, Nisha temporarily ties up Bhalla so she can go get help. Despite the fact that he may be her enemy, Nisha creates a splint for him because that is her duty as a doctor/healer and she’s vowed to help all those in need regardless of who it may be. She then runs off to find help. Bhalla now feels worse than before and can’t seem to recover from the fall fast enough. He’s absolutely humiliated that he was beaten by the intruder - a girl no less! He tries to get up but realizes his ankle is sprained and Nisha has tied him up. He quickly passes out from the pain of his injuries.

Meanwhile, after Nisha ties up Bhalla, she runs for help and crashes into Devasena and Bahubali. She frantically explains that someone was trying to invade the palace and she has them tied up. They quickly follow her and inform the guards to alarm the rest of the palace for intruders. Once Devasena and Bahu arrive at the river, they find Bhalla bleeding and passed out and Bahu is immediately concerned while Devasena tries to calmly explain to Nisha that it’s not an intruder, but Bhalla, Bahubali’s brother, the Prince of Mahishmati.

Bahubali and Devasena help get Bhalla back into his room and tell people to go get Shivgami and some healers. Kattappa is already there when they get to his room, Bhalla regains consciousness before Shivgami or the healers can arrive. Nisha is helping Bahu with his brother by cleaning and fixing his wounds. Once Bhalla becomes aware of his surroundings he resists help and throws a fit about Nisha and fights with his brother about this. Nisha feels bad about injuring him so much but she can feel his arrogance again and it’s obvious that he thinks it’s her fault for this whole dilemma even though it was equally their misunderstanding. Nisha tries to be the bigger person and apologize but Bhalla isn’t having any of it. This causes her to resent him and add to the ever-growing animosity between the two. Shivgami watches this from the door and sees how pure Nisha’s heart and intentions were. She walks in and Bhalla tries explain to the situation from his perspective, obviously placing the blame on Nisha. Since Nisha feels bad about what happened, she holds her words and doesn’t say anything despite the anger bubbling beneath the surface. She also knows her place in the palace of Mahishmati and fears speaking out to the queen against the word of her son, the Prince. When Shivgami asks Nisha for conformation of this, she agrees and asks for her punishment, taking full responsibility for her actions. While Shivgami is thinking of how to punish her, Bhalla is nodding and hoping she gets a horrible punishment which Nisha can clearly see.

Shivgami decides that Nisha will take care of Bhalla until he recovers, to which both Bhalla and Nisha tried to protest.

“But, your highness, I’m sure Bhalla would be more comfortable with the royal healers he has grown accustomed to.” - Nisha

“I don’t want to be under the supervision of such a savage like her!” - Bhalla

Shivgami ends their pointless bickering by turning this into a royal command. Nisha, left with no other option, reluctantly accepts her punishment and Bhalla is left grumbling as his mother leaves.

Devasena laughs and warns Nisha of Bhalla’s horrible attitude and how hard of a time he’s going to give her. Bahu playfully scolds Devasena not to scare the poor girl off and tells him that his brother can be a handful, but he’s not that bad. Bahubali then asks Bhalla to go easy on her since she is a guest and she’s soft hearted, at which Bhalla scoffs because he doesn’t believe that one bit. Would she have tried to cut off his head if she was normally soft-spoken and kind-hearted? Devasena and Bahu leave to return to their rooms for the night after telling Nisha that she can come to them if she needs help.

Once the royal couple leave, Bhalla immediately yells at Nisha to “Get out!” of his room. She is even more offended that he won’t accept her help because of his hurt pride and overflowing anger. She leaves despite the command she was given by Shivgami to look after the stubborn prince. She decides to retire to her room next door since it was late, she was tired from being in the village all day and she had some wounds of her own to tend to.


	5. The Morning After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens the morning after Nisha attacks Bhalla?

The next day, Nisha wakes up earlier than usual due to pain from her wounds, especially the gashes on her upper left arm and right calf. After waking up and cleaning her wounds, she quickly gets ready and goes to check on Bhalla. He’s shirtless which causes Nisha to blush beet red, but she doesn’t let that deter her from checking up on him. Upon approaching the bed, she can see that Bhalla is sweating and pale, a slightly green hue to his otherwise perfectly tanned complexion. He is mumbling and stirring in his sleep and looks troubled, as if having a nightmare. Nisha reaches her hand out to gently place on his forehead to check his temperature and finds him burning up with a fever. He wakes up dazed and begins to protest against Nisha helping him.

“Get out, I don’t need your help,” Bhalla weakly protests. “This is all your fault, go away.”

“As much as I would like to leave and let you suffer, I am under orders of the queen to make sure you’re alive and healthy. Now shut up and accept this as punishment for the both of us.” Nisha responds while placing a wet cloth onto Bhalla’s forehead in an attempt to bring down his fever. Bhalla instead just throws the cloth at Nisha and commands her to leave again.

Nisha is once again infuriated and insulted at Bhalla’s childish behavior but she refuses to back down from her responsibilities. “At least let me clean your wounds and change your bandages before I go.”

“No, it’s fine. I don’t need help, now get the hell out of my room! That is an order!” Bhalla tries to be as intimidating as he can, but his words trail off at the end as he falls back to sleep. Nisha just sighs and tries to place the cloth back onto his head but he just rolls over and it falls off again. She finally decides to leave and tell the royal healers clean his wounds.

After exiting, Nisha proceeds to head to the kitchen for some breakfast. By this time, most everyone is awake and ready to start the day. Devasena and Amarendra are already in the kitchen with little 3 year old Mahendra by the time Nisha gets there. She greets everyone politely despite her sour mood due to Bhalla and sits down, waiting to be served.

“So Nisha, how badly do you want to hurt Bhalla right now?” Devasena teases Nisha, resulting in a groan loud enough to shake the whole castle. Amarendra and Devasena chuckle at her exasperated state while Mahendra continues to eat, not even remotely paying attention to the conversations around him.

Nisha shakes her head incredulously. “I don’t know how someone can possibly be so infuriating! My brothers were horrible as kids, but even they weren’t this bad! I don’t know how I’m going to survive this, I hate this and I especially hate him!”

“Come on Nisha, just give him a chance, he’s not that bad,” Amarendra tries to coax.

“Yeah he’s way worse,” Devasena mutters under her breath.

“See? Your wife thinks that too!” Nisha exclaims in agreement.

Bahu shoots her an abrupt look. “You’re not helping my cause here. Nisha, he is my brother, I know him better than anyone. Please just do this, as a favor for me?”

“I don’t want to do this but I don’t really have much of a choice, do I?” Nisha grumbles out while sulking.

“I don’t want to do Bhalla’s work but I don’t really have much of a choice, do I now?” Bahu retorts, half teasingly and half seriously.

They all finish their breakfast and get ready to start a day filled with royal tasks and assignments. While Bhalla is temporarily unable to fulfill his royal duties, Bahu is taking care of both of their tasks. Which makes him incredibly busy for the next few days. Devasena tries to be of help, but she can only do so much as she has two kids to take care of as well as her normal duties as the wife of Amarendra Bahubali.

Nisha asks a maid to prepare a special meal for Bhalla so he can recover soon and to bring it up when it’s ready. Nisha goes back up to Bhalla’s room to see him sleeping again. She checks his temperature again to see that it hasn’t changed much from what it was when she woke up. The maid comes in with a soupy porridge for Bhalla. Nisha tries to wake him up and he’s having none of it, he just grumbles, telling her to leave again and that he doesn’t need her help, or anyone’s for that matter.


	6. Enough is Enough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nisha has had enough of Bhalla's haughty personality and goes on a picnic with the Royal Family.

After this continuous pattern of protest from Bhalla for about three days, Nisha finally had enough. She found Kattappa and told him to tell Shivgami that she could no longer do this because of the infuriating Prince’s resistance. She storms off, angry at herself for wasting her a good amount of her time to this evil, infuriatingly handsome prince. Did she just say handsome? She didn’t mean that, she meant ugly. Yeah, ugly, annoying, asshole of a prince.

Nisha goes to find Devasena and the little princess, her youngest daughter who is about 6 months old. She finds the two in Devasena and Amarendra’s royal chambers, and the little princess has just woken up from her nap. (Let’s name the little princess Rudhramadevi.) Devasena sighs because she can clearly see that Nisha is shaken up and angered once again by Bhalla’s antics. Nisha immediatly takes the little princess into her arms and coos to her. The smile of the most adorable little girl in all of the kingdoms melts nearly all of Nisha’s anger.

“Nisha, you-” Devasena starts.

“I don’t want to hear it.” Nisha immediately interrupts with a sigh. “I can’t stand it anymore. I’ve tried so hard to be the bigger person but if he doesn’t want to move forward and accept my punishment then so be it. I won’t even offer anymore. I’ve told Kattappa to tell Shivgami that she’ll have to find another healer for her evil son.”

“I was actually going to say that we should go on an outing together,” Devasena recommends.

“Not if that horrible Prince Bhalla is coming,” Nisha protests.

“Nisha, think a little. He’s sick, how is he supposed to come?” Devasena points out the obvious.

“Ok then, sure I’ll go,” Nisha agrees, returning her attention to the bundle of cuteness in her hands. “As long as this little cutie keeps me company.”

The next day, Nisha and the royal family, excluding Bhalla, go out to a meadow near the castle and river for a picnic. Even Shivgami and Kattappa were present.

“Nisha, I apologize for my son’s wild and rude behavior. I ask that you give him one more chance. He’s not usually like this,” Shivgami apologizes on behalf of Bhalla. Nisha is after all, a foreign princess.

“No worries, Your Majesty. It is not your fault, there is absolutely no need for you to apologize for your son. It is in fact, almost entirely my fault,” Nisha humbly bows. While Nisha hates Bhalla, she cannot ignore a personal request from the queen herself so she agrees to give him a second chance. Shivgami notes Nisha’s humility towards the subject matter and is quite impressed by it, increasing the respect she already had for her.

The women turn their attention to where Amarendra, Mahendra and Kattappa are playing around. Shivgami thinks back to the day before when the royal family confronted Bhalla and forced him into agreeing to complying with his mother’s wishes. She is quite hopeful that this relationship is going to work out between Bhalla and Nisha because she knows her son. Shivgami knows that he guards his heart and refused to let anyone in as a potential lover or wife because of his deep fear of losing her.


	7. A Royal Promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nisha tries to uphold her promise to Shivgami and witnesses Bhalla having a nightmare.

The following morning, Nisha wakes up to find her wounds healing nicely. She still has many cuts on her jaw and bruises everywhere, but they are significantly better than they were a few days ago.

Nisha thinks back to the promise she made to Shivgami about giving Bhalla a second chance and sighs to herself. If only she didn’t take the oath as a healer to protect anyone and everyone who needed her help and if only Shivgami wasn’t the Queen of Mahishmati.

Nisha goes next door to check on Bhalla, who is once again sleeping soundly. She sits on the bed next to him and places her hand on his forehead and checks his temperature which is not as hot as it previously been, but still a little hotter than normal. Nisha sighs, knowing his stubborn nature to resist her help, and gets the wet cloth to place on his forehead. After placing it, she notices tears coming out of his eyes and the troubled look on his face. She debates whether or not she should wake him up, but decides to once he starts whimpering in his sleep. She gently nudges his shoulder and he awakens, shooting upright, dazed and terrified out of his mind, tears still streaming down his face.

“Bhalla! Bhalla, calm down, it’s ok, it’s just me, Nisha. I’m here to help you, ok?” Nisha tries to coax him out of his frightened state. Despite their mutual hatred, Nisha is growing increasingly concerned for him. “Are you ok, Bhalla?”

This seems to pull him out of his daze and he became aware of his surroundings. He’s breathing hard and has a sheer layer of glistening sweat over his body. Nisha gentle places her hand on his shoulder to push him back down onto the bed at which he glowers but does not have enough energy in him to resist. She wrings out the wet cloth and wipes his body down with it to remove the sweat, causing her to blush.

“Taken by my good looks, are we? If you wanted to touch my body, all you had to do was ask,” Bhalla says cheekily, in spite of their current situation.

“Shut up asshole.” Nisha mutters under her breath and rolls her eyes.

Bhalla suddenly turns dead serious. “If you tell anyone about what you saw just now, I’m really going to kill you.”

Nisha just scoffs at that. “If you were really going to kill me, you would’ve done it by now or had someone do it for you.” She mutters the next part under her breath. “Plus, I was the one who caused these injuries, so we obviously know that I’m the better fighter.”

Bhalla hears this and musters up his energy to flip them over on his bed to where he is over her, caging her in. He ignores the pain from his body just to prove his point and inflate his ego. Nisha is breathing heavy and redder than the bright red color of Vermilion with her anger and embarrassment on the rise. The proximity is affecting her senses. She wants to remove herself from this position but she’s afraid of further worsening his already numerous injuries.

Bhalla leans down to whisper in her ear, his face gently grazing the side of her cheek. “Who is the stronger one now?”

This sends Nisha off the edge and she wiggles, trying to get out of his hold and loosening Bhalla’s grip, causing him pain on his injuries and him to fall on her. Nisha pushes his shoulder and turns him over after having the wind knocked out of her, causing a few of his wounds to open up again.

“Get off of me, you big oaf!” Nisha says while trying to quickly recover from what just happened. Bhalla grunts from the pain, especially from the bleeding gashes on his abdomen and arm. He rolls over and Nisha goes to reclaim the long forgotten towel to wipe off the blood. He hisses from the pain and tries to shy away.

“Would just hold still?” Nisha scolds.

“But it hurts!” Bhalla whines.

“It would hurt less if you stopped moving around so much!” Nisha retorts sharply. She wipes off as much blood as she can and uses new bandages to wrap his wounds. Once she finishes, she notices that he has another thin layer of sweat on him and is breathing a little heavier than usual, this time from the pain of cleaning his wounds. She uses the towel to quickly wipe off the sweat again.

“You need a change of clothes,” Nisha gestures to one of the guards outside Bhalla’s room to come in and help him change. “Change, and I’ll be back later with food.” She commands Bhalla before promptly leaving his chambers.

As she walked out, she heard his grumbled protest against her telling him what to do, as he is the Prince of Mahishmati after all. She continued on with a smug smile to herself.


	8. A Royal Lunch in the Courtyard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nisha has lunch with the Royal Couple and their kids in the palace's courtyard.

Nisha heads to the royal library to find a book or manuscript that she can read to pass the time. She finds a thinly bound journal full of manuscripts about the stories of Hindu God Krishna, similar to the stories told to her by her grandmother as a child. She smiles at the fond memory and goes out towards the royal courtyard to find a spot under a nice tree to enjoy her book.

Nisha isn’t even halfway through reading when she hears a squeal and giggles accompanied by a set of thunderous footsteps coming her way. Knowing who it is, she can’t help but have a smile on her face as she gets up from her spot under the tree.

“Princess Nisha! Help!” Little Mahendra Bahubali comes tumbling into her legs, nearly knocking her over while squealing and trying to get away from his father, who has apparently started a tickle war.

Devasena quickly catches up to them with the little princess in her arms and servants following them with food for lunch. One of the servants lays down a picnic blanket for the royals and the other prepares the food. They are dismissed once they complete their tasks.

“Sorry to disturb you Nisha, but we were just going to have lunch. Would you like to join us?” Amarendra offers as everyone sits down.

“Oh, I didn’t even realize it was lunch time. But, I wouldn’t want to impose on a family picnic,” Nisha begins to protest.

“Nonsense, Nisha. Sit down and join us. We have plenty of food,” Amarendra attempts to persuade her while Devasena nods. Nisha somewhat reluctantly agrees and joins them.

“So, Nisha. How are you liking your stay at Mahishmati?” Amarendra asks while feeding Mahendra.

She shrugs. “I guess it could be worse. At least I get to spend time with the two most precious angels on this planet.” She pinches Mahendra’s cheek as he smiles at her.

“But it could be better,” Devasena points out as she eats with her daughter in her lap.

Nisha frowns and sighs. “Yeah, but it really is all my fault, isn’t it? If I had just listened to him and inquired more about him being the Prince, none of this would’ve happened and we wouldn’t have hated each other.”

“Nisha, none of this is your fault. You actually did a good thing,” Amarendra tries to convince her. “What if that night, instead of my brother, it actually was an invader? And if you didn’t attack, the whole kingdom would’ve been in danger.”

“If I didn’t attack, the Prince of the Kingdom of Mahishmati wouldn’t have been in danger or gotten hurt,” Nisha looks at the ground with regret. “Oh well, I guess I can’t really change the past now, so I just have to move on and accept the punishment given to me for my mistake.”

Amarendra looks at Nisha with concern. He knows that his brother is better than how he’s acting towards her right now, but he also knows of his brother’s colossal arrogance and his stubborn personality.

“Mahendra, how would you like to spend the day with Princess Nisha?” Bahu offers to his little son. He’s hoping that this would cheer Nisha up and preoccupy his son for the day.

“Yes Daddy!” Mahendra squeals with delight and goes to hug both this father and Nisha. Devasena glances over at Nisha to make sure she is alright with taking care of him for the day and Nisha nods. Bahu, seeing this interaction reminds his son to ask her for her permission and thank her to which Nisha quickly agrees.


	9. A Day With The Little Prince

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nisha spends some time with the little prince and remembers to check up on Bhalla.

After lunch, Nisha reminds the maids to take a lunch platter up to Bhalla while she takes Mahendra to the village to play with the other little kids while she helps the older men and women with their medicinal problems. After finishing up some of her work, she joins the little kids in playing around with the training swords. While playing, one of the kids accidentally cuts Nisha on her lower cheek and collarbone. Luckily, the cut is not too deep and should heal quickly.

Getting another cut reminded her that she needed to get back to the palace to check on Bhalla, and it was almost dinner time. Mahendra was a nice distraction but he was also a little kid and would get hungry soon as well. So the pair headed off quickly back to the palace.

By the time Nisha and Mahendra arrived, dinner had already started and they didn’t have anytime to get cleaned up. Nisha sent Mahendra to his mother to eat, but Nisha went to the river to quickly clean and make herself presentable to the royal family. Despite Nisha trying as quickly as she could, she still ended up missing dinner with the royal family. Instead, Shivgami told Nisha to have dinner with Bhalla in his room instead so that he could have some company rather than eating alone. Nisha complies and heads up with a maid following with their dinners.

Nisha comes into Bhalla’s room to find him asleep. He always seems to be sleeping whenever she walks in. She wonders whether it was a coincidence or not. Nisha goes up to his bed and checks his fever. She notices that it’s gone down and he’s much less green than he was a couple of days ago. Bhalla stirs awake while her hand is on him and she quickly retracts her hand. Bhalla notices, but doesn’t really say anything and just sits up in bed. The maid places the food in front of him.

“Do you need anything else before I go?” Nisha asks as she gets up to leave.

“No, you’re dismissed,” Bhalla says smugly with an arrogant tone.

“I am not your personal maid,” Nisha counters angrily. “I, too, am a princess and deserve to be treated as such.”

“Sure thing, Princess,” Bhalla taunts her. Nisha’s anger increases and she just storms off to her own room where she eats dinner by herself. Exhausted by the long day she had and content with her full belly, she falls asleep easily, but her sleep is anything but restless.


	10. Cooking With Kattappa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nisha and the little princess help Kattappa make cashew rolls.

Nisha doesn’t wake up the next morning. She wakes up in the afternoon, past lunchtime. Why she slept so long despite her restlessness, she has no idea. Nisha gets up and changes out of her sleepwear. She goes next door to check on Bhalla. Thinking he would be asleep like he always is when she goes to check on him, she does not feel the need to knock which she soon realizes was a grave mistake. Nisha accidentally walked in on Bhalla changing! She immediately covers her eyes with her hands once it registers in her brain. She turns red, extremely embarrassed and bashful.

“I-I-” Nisha stutters, clearly at a loss for words and trying to apologize for her invasion of privacy as a way to maintain her manners.

“See something you like, Princess?” Bhalla teases her. “Are you so infatuated with me that you had to walk in on me changing just to get a glimpse of this gorgeous body? You could’ve just asked Sweetheart, I would’ve allowed a peak.”

Nisha’s anger is peaked once again and she ready to kill him. She grabs the nearest thing to her which happens to be his discarded garments, and flings it at him. He easily catches it and laughs at her as she walks out. She is extremely angry, not to mention hungry as well from sleeping in so late. She heads to the kitchen to find some food to at least conquer her hunger before she attempts to calm her anger.

Nisha is much, much calmer after she’s eaten but her blood still boils thinking of that arrogant, asshole Prince.

Nisha goes to Devasena and Amarendra’s royal chambers with hopes that the little princess is awake so she can play with her. Nisha gently and quietly enters the room, making sure not to disturb the baby if she was asleep.

What Nisha saw melted her completely. Amarendra was laying on his back with Rudhramadevi on his chest and Mahendra sprawled across his stomach. Devasena was snuggled up at Amarendra’s side with her hand resting on Mahendra’s back.

  
(Like this but Devasena snuggled up to Bahu on one side.)

Nisha could clearly feel the love radiating from the family and see their peaceful, happy expressions while they slept. Nisha wanted this in her life. She didn’t want to marry for a royal treaty or a trade agreement and have kids for the sole purpose of an heir. She wanted love. Nisha sighed and shook her head to get out of her thoughts. She knew that it was all wishful thinking and that she most likely would have an arranged marriage with someone her parents or her brothers chose for her. She just had to accept her reality.

While Nisha was preoccupied with her thoughts, Rudhramadevi slowly woke up and looked around, blinking and rubbing her eyes in the most precious and adorable way. She looks down to see get father and smiles a little, getting ready to wake him up. Before can though, Nisha rushes over to pick up the princess and let the royal couple sleep. Nisha leaves a short note on the bedside table for Bahu so he doesn’t freak out when he wakes up to find his daughter no longer on his chest. Nisha then quickly leaves with Rudhramadevi.

“So, what do you think we should do, Little Princess?” Nisha turns to the baby. She is met with a squeal and Rudhramadevi flailing her arms in excitement. Nisha laughs at her antics and continues down the hall.

Nisha decides to take the little princess for a swim and tells a maid to get things prepared when she runs into Kattappa.

“Hello Princess Nisha, how are things going?” He bows in greeting.

“Fine, thank you for asking Kattappa. I was thinking about taking the little princess for a swim. Would you like to join us?” Nisha offers him.

Although Kattappa humbly declines. “As much as I would love to and as grateful as I am for the offer Princess Nisha, I am on my way to the kitchen to make sweets for Bahu. I’ve made him sweets since he was little to cheer him up. He seems to be exhausted from all the royal work.”

“I’ll join you for a little bit,” Nisha says. “I haven’t cooked since I was back at my home and I agree that Bahu has been really tired recently, most of it my fault.”

“I’m sure you have better things to do, Princess,” Kattappa replied. “And it’s not entirely your fault either.”

Nisha shrugged in response and allowed Kattappa to lead her to the kitchen.

“So Princess, what would you like to eat today?” Kattappa asks while pulling out bowls and spoons and other utensils.

Nisha sits down in a nearby chair with Rudhramadevi on her lap. She shrugs in response. “I don’t really have much of a preference.”

“How about cashew rolls then?” Kattappa suggests. “I was originally planning on making them for Bahu.”

Nisha nods excitedly with a smile on her face. “I love cashew rolls! I haven’t had them in so long!”

Kattappa chuckles at her excitement which the little princess finds exciting as well. He starts to work on his special recipe.

“So,” Kattappa begins cautiously, glancing at Nisha through the corner of his eye. “How are things with Bhalla?”

He sees Nisha’s expression immediately falls and turns sour. He wonders if he’s overstepped his boundaries as a servant. He bows. “I apologize for being unable to hold my tongue, Princess. I realize that I’ve overstepped my boundaries-”

Nisha cuts him off. “Kattappa, I understand that you’re asking me because you’re concerned and care about me. I don’t think at all that you’re overstepping your boundaries because you’re asking me as a concerned uncle.”

Kattappa is so proud and humbled to be thought of as an uncle to royalty, especially from a foreign princess no less! His respect and admiration for Nisha just continues to increase.

“It’s just,” Nisha let’s out a frustrated sigh and begins her rant. “He may be the most disrespectful, annoyingly arrogant, evil Prince I’ve ever met! I don’t understand how someone could be so rude, especially to foreign royalty! Yes, I understand that most of it was my fault but can’t he see that I’m trying to take responsibility and fulfill my punishment?! If only he would stop being so complicated!”

During her rant, Nisha began pacing and accidentally knocked over the bag of flour sitting on the edge of the counter. She didn’t notice at first because she was focused on the arrogant Prince but it had landed all over Kattappa, Nisha and the little princess. Nisha finally notices when she’s trying to calm her heaving breathing after her rant.

She immediately apologized. “Oh my goodness, I am so sorry Kattappa, I didn’t notice and I knocked it over, I’m so sorry-”

“It’s alright Princess Nisha,” Kattappa tries to tell her.

“Let me go get a mop and broom and try to clean up this whole mess, again I’m so sorry for-” Kattappa cuts her off by grabbing her shoulders and forcing her attention on him.

“Princess Nisha,” Kattappa looks into her eyes and says slowly. “It’s alright. It’s not your fault, it was an accident. You don’t need to help clean this up. Now, you need to go change and get ready for dinner.“

Nisha is about to protest and insist that Kattappa let her help, but he’s right that she does need to go and get ready for dinner. He shoots her a warning look, similar to one that she often got from her own father as a kid. Nisha reluctantly nods and turns to leave with Rudhramadevi in her hands.

Rudhramadevi is clearly having fun playing with all the flour all over her and making a mess which makes Nisha chuckle. “Let’s get you cleaned up, shall we?” Nisha kisses the baby’s chubby cheeks and giggles. She signals to a maid to bring some of the baby’s clothes and makes her way to her room.

Nisha quickly gets herself and Rudhramadevi ready for dinner and heads back down to the dining hall. The pair are giggling as they enter with bubbling happiness. Devasena and Bahu melt at the sight of the two and think to themselves that Nisha is going to be a great mother someday. Everyone bows to the queen as Shivgami walks in and she signals for dinner to begin.

“So Nisha,” Shivgami begins. “How is Bhalla doing?”

“Fine,” Nisha replies politely. “A few more days of rest and then he should be able to resume his royal duties.”

“That’s good,” Shivgami says turning her attention to the royal couple. Dinner continues smoothly with conversations that Nisha didn’t have much interest in. After dinner, Kattappa walks in with a tray of cashew rolls and bows in greeting.

“A special treat for tonight, made by the hands of our own Princess Nisha,” Kattappa announces proudly offering some to everyone present.

Shivgami is taken aback by Nisha making sweets. “You made these, Nisha? They are quite delicious. I am impressed.”

“Your Highness, I merely helped Kattappa make these. I am not talented enough to make these on my own,” Nisha blushes humbly, trying to give credit where credit is due.

“Well, they really are good,” Bahu agrees.

“Do you know who loves cashew rolls?” Devasena asks Nisha with a mischievous glint in her eye. Nisha shakes her head, unknowing of Devasena’s intentions. “Bhalla. I think he would love some. It would definitely make him feel better to eat his favorite sweet, especially because Nisha made them herself. Wouldn’t you agree, Queen Shivgami?”

“Yes, I think that would be a lovely idea,” Shivgami catches on quickly to Devasena’s intentions and turns to Nisha. “Nisha, would you mind bringing them to him?”

Nisha is still red from the compliments but now her red is more intense with the anger towards the Prince bubbling up again. However, she has no other choice but to comply as it is the request of the queen herself.

“Yes, Your Majesty,“ Nisha bows her head to hide her red face.


	11. Cashew Rolls and Princess Kisses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nisha brings Bhalla some cashew rolls and Mahendra tags along.

After Nisha leaves with the sweets towards Bhalla’s room, Bahu leans to his son and whispers a plan in his ear to get Bhalla and Nisha together. Devasena and Shivgami watch this happen with amusement painted in their eyes. Nisha is on her way back to Bhalla’s room when something tumbles into her legs, nearly causing her to be knocked over. She looks down and sees Mahendra smiling up at her.

“Are you going to see Uncle Bhalla because he’s hurt?” He waits for Nisha to nod. “Can I come with you?”

She looks down at him with a smile. “You don’t need to ask to see your uncle. Of course you can come.” Nisha takes Mahendra’s hand and leads him to Bhalla’s room.

Nisha and Mahendra enter to see Bhalla on his bed with manuscripts and maps and various documents sprawled out around him. He’s working very intently on something and doesn’t pay much attention to them when they come in. His brows are furrowed and he’s biting his lip in frustration, not allowing the cut there to heal properly.

Nisha is hesitant to interrupt him because he may be working on something important for the Royal Court, but Mahendra has no problem jumping onto the bed and squealing his uncle’s name.

“Uncle Bhalla!” Mahendra jumps onto him causing the papers around him to scatter. Bhalla lets out a grunt at the sudden impact and the pain shooting up his abdominal wound but catches Mahendra with open arms.

Nisha quickly rushes to the bed to gather the scattered papers before Mahendra makes things worse and Bhalla gets upset.

“Stop,” Bhalla commands angrily while Nisha is picking up the papers. “You’re going to mess up my documents, I can do it myself.”

“Well excuse me for trying to be helpful,” Nisha bites back while placing the bundles of paper aside and picking up his writing instruments as well.

“I didn’t ask for your help,” Bhalla grumbles.

Mahendra speaks up before the two can continue their incessant bickering. “Uncle Bhalla, guess what we brought you!” Mahendra bounces excitedly in his uncle’s lap.

“What did you bring me?” Bhalla asks as his nephew crawls out of his lap to retrieve the sweets.

“Cashew rolls! Here, eat one!” Mahendra excitedly stuffs a roll into his mouth. “Princess Nisha made them all by herself! Aren’t they good?”

“Oh, did she now? All by herself?” Nisha doesn’t catch the look questionable glance thrown her way by Bhalla because she’s looking down again, blushing furiously.

“It was mostly Kattappa, but I did help,” Nisha explains quickly. She notices that Mahendra is causing discomfort to Bhalla. “Oh no Mahendra, you’re hurting your Uncle Bhalla.”

Mahendra shoots her a confused look and moves to sit next to Bhalla rather than in his lap. “Uncle Bhalla is hurt?”

Nisha works on cleaning his wounds and changing his bandages to see them healing up nicely, save for the major gashes. She’s focusing on cleaning the stab wound on his abdomen when Mahendra speaks up.

“Do you know how to fix someone who’s hurt?,” He questions, gaining the attention of both Bhalla and Nisha. Bhalla blinks at him and Nisha tilts her head with a slight furrow in her brows, both waiting for him to continue.

“My daddy says that if anyone is hurt, it can be fixed with a kiss from a Prince or Princess.” Mahendra says innocently.

Bhalla scoffs under his breath and mutters so only Nisha can hear, “What a load of trash,” causing her to shoot him a murderous glare.

Nisha turns to Mahendra. “Why don’t you kiss his injuries then?”

Mahendra shakes his head furiously. “No, it won’t work. You have to do it because you’re a Princess.”

“Your mom is a Princess, why don’t we ask her? Don’t her kisses heal your wounds?” Nisha continues, trying to avoid kissing Bhalla.

“No, it won’t work because she’s my Mommy,” Mahendra protests.

“What about if we ask Bhalla’s mommy to give him a kiss?” Nisha offers.

“No, that won’t work either because she’s a queen, not a princess. That’s why you have to do it, Princess Nisha.” Nisha laughs at the little prince’s naivety and innocence. While his arguments are completely illogical, his persistence is admirable.

“Alright, fine,” Nisha finally caves in. She turns towards Bhalla, still talking to Mahendra. “Where do I start?”

“Here,” Mahendra points to the gash on Bhalla’s upper arm. Nisha places her hand gently below it and leans down to gently brush her lips against it in the briefest moment of contact. Bhalla feels tingles from her hand and her lips, despite the fact that it was such a brief moment. Nisha is blushing bright red and the two avoid looking into each other’s eyes.

Next, Mahendra points to the stab wound on the side of Bhalla’s abdomen. Nisha places her hand on his stomach and feels the toned and defined muscles rippling under her. She quickly and gently kisses his wound, a briefer moment than the last, but causing even more of a burning sensation to spread throughout Bhalla’s stomach. She moves up to kiss the cut that stretches across his collarbone and part of his shoulder. Her hand stays on his abs and her lips gently kiss his cut. Bhalla’s eyes briefly flutter close from the extremely pleasurable feeling of Nisha’s lips on him. Nisha moves up to kiss the cut on his cheekbone, right underneath the corner of his eye and places her hand on the side of his chest. This kiss lasts longer than the rest, but still too short of a time.

Nisha quickly scoots back and removes herself. She tries to calm her breathing and heart rate and control the ever-growing blush on her face. She doesn’t know that she has affected Bhalla almost as much as he’s affected her.

“All done,” Nisha turns to Mahendra, planting a fake smile on her face.

Mahendra shakes his head. “You missed one, Princess Nisha. You forgot to kiss the cut on his lip.”

Bhalla doesn’t say anything because for once, he doesn’t really know what to say. Both Bhalla and Nisha are still flustered and breathing heavy from the flurry of healing kisses that they don’t really know how to respond to Mahendra’s constant persistence other than to comply.

Nisha turns to Bhalla again and leans in slowly. She places her hand on his chest and looks him in the eyes to see him staring at her lips. She unconsciously licks her lips and looks down at the cut on his lower lip. Nisha bites her lower lip, clearly nervous from never having kissed a man before. This elicited a primal groan from the back of Bhalla’s throat that he just barely able to held back.

Nisha’s eyelids flutter shut and she just barely brushes her lip against Bhalla’s in the briefest touch that wouldn’t even be considered a kiss. His eyes barely have the chance to shut before she’s already backing away. The kiss left tingles on their lips and spread a searing fire throughout their bodies. Both of them seem to be slightly disappointed while pulling away despite their mutual hatred.

Nisha takes a shaky breath and turns back to Mahendra with a small smile on her face. He seems satisfied enough and so he nods his head in approval. Nisha pulls him onto her lap and runs her fingers through his hair with a content smile on her face. She’s glad that she was able to protect his childish belief, even if it did make her uncomfortable at times. Bhalla stares at her curiously, wondering if he was wrong to judge her so immediately. He shakes the that thought out of his mind and tries to convince himself that he hates Nisha and she hates him.

Nisha and Bhalla are pulled out of their thoughts when the door opens and Amarendra walks in. He joins the trio on the bed and Mahendra crawls into his father’s lap, letting out a small yawn.

“So, did you like the cashew rolls?” Bahu asks. Nisha and Bhalla just look away, desperately trying to avoid looking into anyone’s eyes. Bhalla grunts as a reply and Nisha is continously blushing which causes Bahu to raise an eyebrow in question.

“Uhm, well, I’m going to head to bed, so if you’ll excuse me,” Nisha politely excuses herself in her flustered manner, still blushing beet red. Bhalla refuses to make eye contact and has an unreadable, blank expression on his face while Bahu looks at her curiously as she leaves.


	12. Later That Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Later that night, Bhalla and Nisha are flustered by what happened so the Royal Couple decide to join them for the night.

Amarendra turns to his brother. “I’m going to get Mahendra ready for bed.”

Bhalla just mutters under his breath and Amarendra takes that a sign to leave. He heads back into his room with his son, still pondering over why Nisha and Bhalla were acting so weird.

“So, what did you do with Princess Nisha and Uncle Bhalla?” Bahu asks his son while his wife comes with their daughter, ready for bed. Devasena comes over as well due her curious nature, and joins the conversation after giving her husband and son a kiss on the cheek as greeting.

“I fed Uncle Bhalla some cashew rolls and Princess Nisha said I was hurting him so I told her that his hurt will go away with kisses from the Princess,” Mahendra excited says with a little bounce.

Bahu chuckles as Devasena whispers in his ear. “Why did we let him eat so many cashew rolls? Now he’s hyper and he’s not going to be able to sleep.”

“So did Nisha help his hurting go away by kissing him?” Bahu asks his son.

Mahendra nods. “Yes! She gave him kisses here, here, here, here and here.” Mahendra points to all of the places Nisha kissed Bhalla’s wounds, finishing with the lips.

Devasena and Bahu are somewhat surprised that actually Nisha suppressed her anger enough to kiss Bhalla for the sake of their child’s innocence. Their respect for her increases.

Devasena turns to Bahu. “How about we spend the night with them? Mahendra has had way too many sweets anyway and isn’t going to fall asleep anytime soon and I think my best friend may need me.”

Bahu hums in agreement. “That’s fine with me. Isn’t your brother-in-law coming tomorrow as well?”

Devasena grins mischievously and nods to her husband. The bond they share requires no words and Bahu is able to understand her plan immediately. They smile at each other, knowing that the other is thinking the same thing.

Meanwhile, both Nisha and Bhalla are preoccupied with their thoughts.

Bhalla is visibly shaken by Nisha’s kisses. They were swift brushes of her lips against him, they couldn’t even be called kisses. He rubs his hands against his face in frustration and groans. He then lightly brushes his fingertips against the cuts that she kissed, reawakening the tingling sensations he first felt. He lets out another groan and gets ready for bed.

Nisha exists Bhalla’s room makes her way towards her own chambers. She shakes her head to get rid of her thoughts. She can still feel the brush of her lips against his and the tingles in her hands from where she placed her hand on his torso. His smooth and hard muscles under her soft, delicate hands. Nisha washes her face in an attempt to calm herself and fans her face to cool her blush.

After Nisha gets ready for bed, Devasena walks in with Rudhramadevi in her hands.

“I thought that maybe we could have a girls night tonight,” Devasena explains, joining Nisha on her bed. Nisha smiles at the baby and her mother, grateful that her friend can sense whenever Nisha needs her. Nisha takes Rudhramadevi into her arms and cuddles with her, prompting the little princess to giggle at the attention.

“So, did Bhalla like the cashew rolls? They are his favorite treat after all,” Devasena looks over to check her friend’s reaction to her mentioning the name of her nemesis. Nisha looks conflicted and wants to tell her friend about her kiss, but she isn’t sure it’s the best time.

“To be quite honest with you, I’m not really sure,” Nisha says while looking down. “And I don’t really think I care. I don’t need his approval.”

“Are you trying to convince yourself or me?” Nisha lifts her head to meet Devasena’s eyes to find a knowingly glint in her eye.

Nisha sighs in acknowledgement. “How do you manage to know me better than I know myself?”

“Experience in love will change you,” Devasena says wisely. “Well, that and the fact that you’ve always wanted to be loved by everyone, ever since we were kids.”

Rudhramadevi lets out a little yawn and snuggles up in Nisha’s arms, allowing herself to be rocked and lulled into sleep.

“I don’t know if gaining Bhalla’s approval is worth all the trouble it’s causing,” Nisha mutters. “He already hates me, I don’t think that it’s going to change anytime soon.”

“Nisha,” Devasena begins to ask, already knowing the answer to the question before asking it. “Do you think that maybe you like Bhalla?”

“No way!” Nisha exclaims without a moment of hesitation. “He’s an asshole, he’s rude, infuriatingly handsome, snarky, and so extremely overconfident and he thinks he’s always right! He’s just pure evil. I hate him.”

“Sounds to me like you’re trying to list reasons to hate him,” Devasena vocalizes her thoughts. She doesn’t point out that Nisha finds Bhalla attractive but notes it to herself.

Nisha shoots her a glare. “If you’re going to continue pestering me about your brother-in-law, then get out.”

“I’ll take my baby with me then,” Devasena playfully goads her, reaching for her daughter. Nisha harrumphs defeatedly and Devasena chuckles at her friend.

“Alright, alright fine,” Devasena compromises. She wants to bring up the topic of her kiss with Bhalla but she wants Nisha to admit it to her first. Nisha feels guilty about hiding such a big thing from her friend but she doesn’t want her to be proven right.

Devasena changes the topic. “So, tomorrow, my brother-in-law is going to be arriving. His name is Kumara Varma. Please don’t kill him.”

Nisha playfully hits Devasena on the arm causing her to cry out, “Ah! Please don’t kill me!”

Both princesses burst out in laughter at their teasing and antics. However, Nisha cannot help but feel slightly guilty about hiding her kiss so she decides to tell Devasena to lighten her conscious.

“Devasena, I have to tell you something,” Nisha apprehensive begins, fiddling with her hands. Devasena gives Nisha her full attention, even leaning a little closer in anticipation of the big reveal.

Nisha takes a deep breath before spitting out in a quick, rushed whisper, “Bhalla and I may or may not have kissed.” If it was anyone else, they wouldn’t have understood Nisha, but Devasena already knew what she was going to say, so she had no problem understanding her friend.

Devasena puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “I know, my son told me. He was there after all.”

The corner of Nisha’s lip twitches at her friend’s attempt at a joke, but her internal conflict doesn’t allow for a full smile.

“So, this was your first kiss, right? Was he a good kisser?” Devasena eagerly encourages her friend to gossip with her.

“Well, I would hardly call it a kiss. It was just a gentle brush of our lips. Just for show,” Nisha explains as her heartbeat slightly quickens at the mention. “And, I don’t like him. He’s way too arrogant and rude. Also, can we please talk about something other than the Evil Prince?”

The princesses continue their conversation well into the night, enjoying themselves before falling into to a pleasant slumber.

While the girls are spending the night in Nisha’s room, giggling and enjoying themselves, the men are in Bhalla’s room.

“Go away, Bahu,” Bhalla groans when his brother comes in with his son. Bhalla turns over on the bed and covers his eyes with his arms.

Bahu chuckles at his brother’s anguish and joins him on the bed. “I’ve never seen you so distressed over a girl other than when-”

“Don’t you dare start with me right now,” Bhalla interrupts him immediately. “I don’t want to hear it. That girl is nothing but an evil wench.”

“Do you remember that girl that we used to play with in the village when we were kids?” Bahu recalls. Bhalla opens one eye to look at him, curious of where he’s going with this conversation.

“You used to pull her hair and make her cry all the time, but you would be so upset when she left,” Amarendra continues. “You didn’t know it then, but it was your way of showing affection to her.”

“Shut up, Bahu,” Bhalla grumbles. “I did not like her. She was a brat, just like that annoying Princess Nisha. Not to mention that she was a spy, only using me to get into the palace. She turned out to be a traitor.”

“I think you like her, Bhalla,” Bahu tries to convince his brother. “If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be so shaken up by her kisses.”

Bhalla bolts upright at this. “How did you know?”

Bahu chuckles. “I’m you’re brother. How would I not know?” Bhalla glares at him dubiously.

“Mahendra told you.” Bhalla quickly catches on. “This was all part of your plan, wasn’t it? I’m not going to fall for your schemes this time. I hate this girl. Now go to sleep or get out.”

Bahu wants to protest but decides against it and makes the decision to go to sleep instead. He hopes that his brother is able to overcome his ego and see that Princess Nisha is the perfect girl for him.


	13. The Arrival of a Rival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The greatly anticipated arrival of Prince Kumara Varma.

The next morning, everyone arises bright and early. Today was the day of the arrival of Kumara Varma, Devasena’s brother-in-law. Nisha is slightly tired from talking the night away with her friend, but she really tries not to show it. She heads down to breakfast with Devasena and Rudhramadevi after getting ready for the day.

Everyone reaches the dining hall at nearly the same time. For a change, Bhalla has joined them today because the sprain in his ankle has healed and that he’s now able to walk fine. He plans on resuming his royal duties today, with the exception of training because his deeper wounds have not completely healed yet.

Throughout breakfast, there is unbearably thick tension between Nisha and Bhalla. It’s almost palpable, yet everyone knows to avoid the topic and not bring it up. Luckily, everyone has a mutual agreement to finish breakfast quickly.

After a strenuous breakfast, the royals head to the court to greet Prince Kumara Varma.

“Uncle Kumara Varma!” Mahendra hugs him with affection.

“Welcome back Prince Kumara Varma,” Shivgami greets him. “I hope your journey was an easy one.”

“No journey is an easy one when you’re away from those you love, Your Highness,” Kumara Varma bows to the queen.

Shivgami smiles and turns to introduce him to the foreign princess. “This is Princess Nisha. She has come to stay with us for a little while.”

Kumara Varma bows in greeting, reciprocated by the princess. “Pleased to make your acquaintance, Princess.”

“Likewise, Prince Kumara Varma,” Nisha gently smiles at him.

Upon first meeting, Kumara Varma is immediately taken aback by Princess Nisha’s beauty and polite manners. He resists the urge to kiss her hand and moves on to greet the rest of the royal family.

“Come Kumara Varma, we have much to do and much to discuss,” Shivgami leads the prince and Amarendra to discuss private matters while everyone else resumes their royal duties for the day and Nisha goes to the village to help out.

Shivgami, Amarendra and Kumara Varma are having tea in one of the more private sitting rooms.

“So, Kumara Varma, has any lovely lady caught your eye so far?” Bahu teases his close friend. “I don’t have time to be waiting around for your marriage.”

Kumara Varma laughs at his friend and takes a sip of his tea. “When will your brother get married, Bahu? I don’t have time to be waiting around for his marriage.”

Shivgami shakes her head at their brotherly bickering with a smile on her face.

"Well," Kumara Varma finally starts to admit. "I'm just thinking about letting my parents arrange a relationship. I haven't been able to choose a girl for myself, so I'm not really left with many other options. But, I am curious about the princess that greeted us at the front door. Who is she and is she married?"

Shivgami looks up at him at this comment and Bahu has a knowing look on his face, as he expected this.

"Why, do you like her?" Bahu teases his friend.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't," Kumara Varma says, trying to be ambiguous in response to Bahu's teasing. "But how can you not like her? She's so beautiful and graceful, not to mention immensely polite and courteous."

"That she is Kumara Varma," Shivgami agrees. "But Nisha's brother and I were discussing about her marrying Bhalla. It would be greatly beneficial to both of our kingdoms."

"Oh, so she is taken then?" Kumara Varma asks. "By Bhalla? Are you sure the two agree to this? I don't see Bhalla agreeing to marry so soon, especially to her, she is so soft-spoken and gentle compared to him."

"Well..." Amarendra trails off. "Don't you think it would be best if we let Nisha decide for herself?" Devasena says as she joins them.


End file.
